Goodenough is the oldest laureate of a Nobel Prize. He shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Stanley Whittingham from the United Kingdom and Akira Yoshino from Japan for their individual studies on lithium-ion batteries.
Digital Desk: One of the most significant discoveries in science
and technology is the lithium-ion battery. John B. Goodenough, a Nobel laureate
and the inventor of the lithium-ion battery, which is used in millions of
electric vehicles worldwide, passed away at the age of 100.
Goodenough is the oldest laureate of a Nobel Prize. He shared the
2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Stanley Whittingham from the United Kingdom
and Akira Yoshino from Japan for their individual studies on lithium-ion
batteries.
The foundation for wireless gadgets like mobile phones and laptops
was created by this rechargeable battery. As it is used for everything from
driving electric cars to storing energy from renewable sources, it also makes a
world free of fossil fuels possible, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences, which announced the award.
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"Goodenough was a leader at the cutting edge of scientific
research throughout the many decades of his career," remarked Jay
Hartzell, president of the University of Texas at Austin, where Goodenough
spent 37 years teaching.
A "glass" battery with a solid-state electrolyte and
lithium or sodium metal electrodes was one of the new energy storage approaches
that Goodenough and his university team were studying in recent years.
Additionally, as a substitute for nickel- and cobalt-based
cathodes, Goodenough was a pioneer in the development of lithium iron phosphate
(LFP) cathodes. Currently, this is replacing more expensive nickel cobalt
manganese in electric vehicle batteries. This is due to the fact that LFP uses
significantly more cost-effective, abundant, and sustainable materials.
Goodenough obtained his Bachelor's degree in mathematics from Yale
University. The University of Chicago awarded him a master's degree in physics
and a PhD later on. Later, he rose to prominence at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology as a researcher and team leader. At the University of Oxford,
Goodenough assumed control of the inorganic chemistry department.
Goodenough was born to
American parents on July 25, 1922, in Jena, Germany. He was married to his wife
for more than 70 years when she passed away in 2016. His brother Ward, a
professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, passed away in
2013.
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